title: Altered profile of chemokines in fibromyalgia patients.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Fibromyalgia (FM) is a syndrome characterized by widespread chronic pain. Its aetiology is still poorly understood, and there are no haematochemical or instrumental tests on which to base a diagnosis. Recent studies suggest that its pathogenesis may involve cytokines, in particular, chemokines - cytokines that regulate cell traffic under both physiological and pathological conditions. The aim of this study was to determine possible differences in the profile of systemic concentrations of chemokines between FM patients and healthy women (HW; controls).
  
  
  METHODS
  The study participants were women diagnosed with FM (n = 17) and a control group of HW (n = 10). Serum concentrations of thymus and activation-regulated chemokine (TARC)/(CCL17), monokine induced by gamma-interferon (MIG)/(CXCL9), macrophage-derived chemokine (MDC)/(CCL22), interferon-inducible T-cell alpha chemoattractant (I-TAC)/(CXCL11), eotaxin (CCL11), pulmonary and activation-regulated chemokine (PARC)/(CCL18) and hemofiltrate CC-chemokine-4 (HCC-4)/(CCL16) were determined by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay and compared between the FM and HW groups.
  
  
  RESULTS
  FM patients had elevated serum levels of the following inflammatory chemokines: TARC (P < 0.001), MIG (P < 0.001), MDC (P < 0.01), I-TAC (P < 0.01) and eotaxin (P < 0.05). No differences were found in the circulating concentrations of PARC and HCC-4 (homoeostatic chemokines).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Since FM patients present higher serum concentrations of inflammatory chemokines than HW, the evaluation of these biomarkers could help in the diagnosis of this syndrome.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physiology, Faculty of Sciences, University of Extremadura, Badajoz, Spain jjgarcia@unex.es.
authors.forename: Juan J
authors.initials: JJ
authors.lastname: García
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Biochemistry, Hospital Don Benito-Villanueva de la Serena, Don Benito, Spain.
authors.forename: Antonio
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Cidoncha
authors.affiliation: Department of Physiology, Faculty of Sciences, University of Extremadura, Badajoz, Spain.
authors.forename: María E
authors.initials: ME
authors.lastname: Bote
authors.affiliation: Department of Physiology, Faculty of Sciences, University of Extremadura, Badajoz, Spain.
authors.forename: María D
authors.initials: MD
authors.lastname: Hinchado
authors.affiliation: Department of Physiology, Faculty of Sciences, University of Extremadura, Badajoz, Spain.
authors.forename: Eduardo
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Ortega
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D015415:Biomarkers / Q000097:blood*; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D054413:Chemokine CCL11 / Q000097:blood; D054414:Chemokine CCL17 / Q000097:blood; D054422:Chemokine CCL22 / Q000097:blood; D054371:Chemokine CXCL11 / Q000097:blood; D054370:Chemokine CXCL9 / Q000097:blood; D018925:Chemokines / Q000097:blood*; D019742:Chemokines, CC / Q000097:blood; D005260:Female; D005356:Fibromyalgia / Q000378:metabolism*; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged
chemical_list: D015415:Biomarkers; C515456:CCL11 protein, human; C481939:CCL16 protein, human; C106230:CCL17 protein, human; C111792:CCL18 protein, human; C515482:CCL22 protein, human; C515202:CXCL11 protein, human; C080810:CXCL9 protein, human; D054413:Chemokine CCL11; D054414:Chemokine CCL17; D054422:Chemokine CCL22; D054371:Chemokine CXCL11; D054370:Chemokine CXCL9; D018925:Chemokines; D019742:Chemokines, CC
keywords: Fibromyalgia; biomarkers; chemokines; diagnosis